1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to textile web and panel processing equipment in the sewing industry, and more particularly to feeding narrow web material to be sewn into larger panels moving along a conveyer in a larger, host, process line.
2. Description of Related Art
Existing systems for assembly of large panel material such as draperies, bed sheets, blankets, curtains and the like automate the assembly of such material by taking panels from continuous rolls cutting the panels to size and conveying them through the forming assembly and sewing steps on wide conveyers. Typically among the process steps is the feeding of narrow web material, such as interfacing or buckram, along the moving panel and subsequent attachment of the narrow web material to the moving panel, generally by sewing.
Present systems feed narrow web material from a continuous roll without cutting of the narrow web until after it is joined to the separate panels. This process produces a web piece longer than the width of the panel with no convenient way to automatically trim the web even with the edge of the panel. This creates some waste of web material and causes the need for a manual trim or fold step in the processing of the assembled product.
Accordingly there is a need for an apparatus to synchronously feed narrow web material from roll stock, merging the web with a passing panel, and stop and start the feed of the material to make the material ends coincident with the edges of passing panels of the material fed through a process line. The device must also be able to trim the web material to length and be able to work in conjunction with the process line and the method of joining the panels, be it sewing machine or other means.